Sim Kern

I've struggled to write a review of this queer alternate history novel, ever since I read it, and that's for one simple reason: Sim Kern is a powerhouse voice, and this is a book which everyone should be reading and talking about.

Encapsulating what's best and worst about our world, taking a real look at social justice initiatives on a local level, and building a wonderfully queer world of believable characters and meaningful interaction, this book is one of those which comes across as deceptively straight-forward and page-turning. But with each page and each emotion, the impact grows, until one wishes they could turn away from the book, with all its horror and humor, but simply cannot.

I'm not doing justice to this book, but I can tell you that it's a work of nature, and whatever Sim Kern writes next, I'll be in line for it. I hope everyone will read this book and share it with a friend, or a hundred friends. This is a book that needs to be read. But if this review leaves you thinking it's just a thought book, or just a message book, think again: the story here is as fantastic as Kern's voice, and it's the truth and the heart and the characters that make it all ring out with power.… (more)

Bleeding with intelligence and trauma, Kern's stories are ones to read, enjoy, and live with to share and re-read. Each story is more unique and fresh than the one that came before it, and while Kern's sensibility for social justice and ecological awareness come through in every one, the lives and worlds of their characters are so real that everything works in tandem. Some of these stories will live with me for ages, and this is the first book in a long time that's made me wish I were still teaching so that I could share this work with my students. Kern's language and creativity show what it means to be an author in tune not only with their art, but the world around them, and the results are magnificent.

Among my favorites in the collection are "The Listener", "Unwhole", and "What Can't Be Undone"--and I would recommend all of them, along with the rest of the stories in the collection.

Note that there are some extremely sensitive themes and subjects discussed in the book, and that detailed content warnings can be found at the end of the book, organized by story. (On a side note, I really appreciate Kern's choice to make a note in the beginning that this is the case, alerting readers up front that content warnings are in place, and where to find them, but not putting them at the forefront for readers who may want to go in 'blind'.)

Really, though, there are no words to write an adequate review here. This is a fantastic collection, and it deserves to be read.… (more)

The Earth is plagued by fires and cataclysmic weather events. When a storm devastates Texas, Noah and others seek refuge in a Dallas arena.

This powerful queer cli-fi novella presents a not-so-distant future in which a small group of queer people cling to one another while the world around them rages – both figuratively and literally.

While it's not exactly a fun read, this story feels important.

A solid 4.5 stars from me. Half a star deduced because, even in such a short work, Noah's friends could have been a bit more fleshed out.… (more)

Kern's collection spans speculative genres from space colonies to near and far-future dystopias, fantasy, and body horror, but all are concerned with the same topics: caregiving, climate change, and resilience through connection. At the heart of the collection is a grappling with what it means to bring children into a dying world and the resulting urgency to alter the current trajectory, though the way climate change impacts people of different genders and economic backgrounds is a strong through-line as well. The thematic elements of the stories were so consistent that the voices tended to blend for me, such that the protagonists of many of the stories felt like the same person in different scenarios, but I suspect this will bother most readers less than it bothered me. As bleak as the subject matter and settings get, the collection feels like a call to hope through coalition, a message that is sorely needed and from a writer trying to help us avert disaster in multiple ways.… (more)